Negro Cloth, Enslaved People, & the Legacy of Lowell Manufacturing

Dr. Square will present the first chapter from his forthcoming monograph Negro Cloth: How Slavery Birthed the American Fashion Industry (Duke University Press, 2025), which explores the pivotal role of enslaved individuals in the production and use of “negro cloth”, specifically “Lowell cloth”. This research draws on slave narratives such as those collected by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), delving into the intricate web of the fashion supply chain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Enslaved individuals found a powerful means of self-expression through the creation and wearing of textiles, a recurring theme across the book's chapters. This lecture focuses on the significance of Lowell cloth, a type of textile named after the city in Massachusetts where it was often manufactured.

We hope you'll join us for this critical conversation.

Organized by CCA's BFA Fashion Program & Critical Ethnic Studies Program

Funding was provided by Cotton Incorporated.

Dr. Jonathan Michael Square

Dr. Jonathan Michael Square is the Assistant Professor of Black Visual Culture at Parsons School of Design. He earned a PhD from New York University, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Cornell University. Previously, he taught in the Committee on Degree in History and Literature at Harvard University and was a fellow in the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most recently, he curated the exhibition Past Is Present: Black Artists Respond to the Complicated Histories of Slavery at the Herron School of Art and Design, which closed in January 2023. He is currently preparing for his upcoming show titled Afric-American Picture Gallery at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. Dr. Square also leads the digital humanities project Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom.

Host or Publisher California College of the Arts